After the Jets big win on Saturday they were in 6th place in the East. Now they are in 9th. I guess thats what having a few days off will do for you. Well the good guys get a chance to move up the standings tonight as they face the Habs of Montreal who are still embroiled in the stupidest controversy of all time. Seriously do you guys think that having a french coach will make your team better? Because thats what its all about. His job is to win games not strike a conversation with the Quebec media. Your hockey team has some real problems right now you shouldn’t be wasting your time on made up ones.

3 KEYS

FEHR THEE WELL

Claude Noel called out the Manitoba native and now its up to Eric Fehr to respond. I think you see a big game from the former Washington Capital who is now playing for next year. Fehr is coming off a bad shoulder injury but you won’t hear any excuses coming from him. He nows that if he’s cleared by the doctors then its up to him to perform. To be honest I’m not that worried. I have had the same type of injury and I know it takes a long time to come back. He’s playing a little tentative but once he breaks the seal so to speak I think Fehr will be just fine. Now can we call out Chris Thorburn please?

GO FOR THE THROAT

When Montreal last visited Winnipeg the Jets dominated the game and pushed the Habs around. Well now they go to their house and need to replicate the result. The Habs are reeling and it doesn’t look like they will right the ship anytime soon. The Jets need to be like a lion and treat the Habs like a wounded Gazelle on the Serengeti. It won’t take much to turn the crowd against their own team. A quick goal, a few hits and the Montreal Boo birds will be going after their own. Goaltending has been an issue for the Habs so the Jets need to shoot quickly and often.

PLAY CONFIDENT NOT COCKY

Yes the Jets have been playing well. They had a great December and are now clearly in contention for a playoff birth. Now they have to keep it up. The last thing the Jets can afford to do is to drop a game to a lesser opponent. Yes be confident, have a swagger but don’t get cocky and count your points before the game begins. This falls on Claude Noel. He has to keep his team from thinking they are better than they really are. Lets be honest the Jets are still a middle of the pack team in the NHL. They haven’t reached elite status no matter how many games they may have won in December. They still have a lot of work to do and Noel needs to remind that to them on a daily basis. This could be a really good team but lets not fool ourselves, they aren’t there yet. They still take too many penalties and still relay on their goalie to bail them out of jams too often. They should go into every game knowing that if they do the work the can win but they can’t take it for granted.